Vialette (3.14Ma), like Senèze, Chilhac, Sainzelles, Ceyssaguet or Soleilhac, is one of the historical sites located in Haute-Loire (France). The lacustrine sediments of Vialette are the result of a dammed lake formed by a basalt flow above Oligocene layers, and show a geological setting typical for this area, where many localities are connected with maar structures that have allowed intra-crateric lacustrine deposits to accumulate. Based on previous studies and this work, a faunal list of 17 species of large mammals has been established. Eight species, typical of this time period and well known, occur in the collection of the Crozatier Museum of Le Puy-en-Velay: Pliocrocuta perrieri, Lynx issiodorensis, Mammut borsoni, Anancus arvernensis, Stephanorhinus jeanvireti, Tapirus arvernensis, ‘Cervus’ pardinensis and Croizetoceros ramosus. The presence of Gazella cf. G. borbonica is newly established, in addition to which the oldest known occurrences of Canis sp., cf. Eucladoceros sp. and of the genus Equus in Western Europe are also described. These are the new data which pushed back the age of the arrival of the genus Equus, cf. Eucladoceros and Canis in Western Europe. Five taxa are not found in the Crozatier collection: Primates indet., Agriotherium sp., Ursus gr. minimus-thibetanus, Bovidae middle-sized (?Pliotragus ardei or ?Gallogoral meneghinii), ?Procapreolus cf. cusanus.

This chapter introduces the beginning of Pleistocene vertebrate records, starting from an overview of the latest Pliocene events and the Plio-Pleistocene transition. Understanding the Early Pleistocene vertebrate record is impossible without the knowledge of the events characterizing the setting of Early Pleistocene land vertebrate communities. Three taxa are selected to describe evolutionary and dispersal patterns within the Early Pleistocene. These are the dispersals and evolutionary history of the genus Canis, of elephants, and of voles. The last section offers an overview of the Early Pleistocene herpetofauna.

The chronology, sedimentary history, and paleoecology of the Tarija Basin (Bolivia), one of the richest Pleistocene mammalian sites in South America, are revised here based on a multidisciplinary study, including stratigraphy, sedimentology, geomorphology, paleontology, isotope geochemistry, and 14C geochronology. Previous studies have indicated a Middle Pleistocene age for this classic locality. We have been able to obtain a series of 14C dates encompassing all the fossil-bearing sequences previously studied in the Tarija Basin. The dated layers range in age from about 44,000 to 21,000 radiocarbon years before present (BP), indicating that the Tarija fauna is much younger than previously thought. Glacial advances correlated to marine isotopic stages (MIS) 4 and 2 (ca. 62 and 20 ka BP, respectively) are also documented at the base and at the very top of the Tarija–Padcaya succession, respectively, indicating that the Bolivian Altiplano was not dry but sustained an ice cap during the Last Glacial Maximum. The results of this multidisciplinary study enable us to redefine the chronological limits of the Tarija sequence and of its faunal assemblage and to shift this paleontological, paleoclimatological, and paleoecological framework to the time interval from MIS 4 to MIS 2.

This paper presents the main results related to the analysis of fossils of the endemic Sardinian canid Cynotherium , discovered during the past years within the rich fossiliferous karst deposits in the Monte Tuttavista area (Eastern Sardinia, Nuoro). The analysis indicates that the remains from various fissure infillings differ in size and dental characters, which are suggestive of evolutionary phases under endemic conditions. The chronological sequencing of fissures obtained based on the evolutionary stage of the fossil canid is consistent with that emerging from the analysis of the whole mammal assemblages occurring in the same fissures. The possible evolutionary relationships of the Sardinian canid to the Plio-Pleistocene mainland species are also considered; a derivation from a population of late Canis arnensis (or Canis mosbachensis ) population is supported.

The Sant'Arcangelo Basin is located in the southern part of the Apennine chain (Basilicata). It is filled by a siliciclastic sequence 3500 m thick, dated to the Late Pliocene-Middle Pleistocene time interval. In this basin an Early Middle Pleistocene fluvio-lacustrine sequence, known as San Lorenzo Cycle, has been recognised. In the upper part of the sequence, in Rifreddo, a fairly diversified small vertebrate assemblage has been recovered.The occurrence of Mimomys savini allows to the fauna to be considered as Biharian. The presence of some faunal elements such as Microtus (Terricola) arvalidens, Microtus (Iberomys) ex gr. huescarensis-brecciensis, and Macroneomys cf. brachygnathus restricts the age of the Rifreddo assemblage to the latest part of this Mammal Age. In several European localities, sediments containing such late Biharian faunas are correlated with the lower part of Brunhes magnetochrone (e.g. the normally magnetised sections at West Runton in the United Kingdom, Voigtstedt in Germany and Prezletice in the Czech Republic) or just below this boundary (e.g. the negatively magnetised part of the Atapuerca section-levels TD4-6 in Spain). Taking into account the faunal composition and the positive magnetisation of the sediments outcropping at the Rifreddo locality, the chronological referral of the mammal assemblage can be restricted to the early Brunhes and therefore to the early middle part of Middle Pleistocene. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved.

The preliminary results of the analisys of fossil vertebrate remains from 19 fissure fillings in the karst network at Monte Tuttavista (Orosei, NMoro) are reported. about 80 taxa, among fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals have been recognised.These remains document the evolution of vertebrate assemblages in the Sardinian insular domain, during a time interval apparently spanning the Late Pliocene to Late Pleistocene or Holocene. A succession of at least four populating complexes has been identified which document the vertebrate colonisation phases from the Italian mainland and the following periods of insularity. Indeed, the occurrence of endemic taxa such as the murid Rhagapodemus minor , the primate Macaca cf. M. majori and the caprine Nesogoral , suggest some fissure fillings date to a phase close to the Plio/Pleistocene boundary since these taxa occur at the Sardinian locality Capo Figari I which has been dated to about 1.8 Ma. However, the presence of the "hunting-hyaena" Chasmaporthetes , never reported before in Sardinia, could suggest that the beginning of the vertebrate record of Monte Tuttavista is older, given that this carnivore is documented in European Middle Pliocene-Early Pleistocene localities. The vertebrate assemblages that document the most recent migratory phases in the karst network of Monte Tuttavista are characterised by the occurrence of the endemic megalocerine cervid Praemegaceros cazioti and the arvicolid Tyrrhenicola henseli which are comparable with those occurring in other Late Pleistocene and early Holocene Sardinian sites.

An Eostyloceros antler fragment is described. The specimen makes part of the Montopoli (Lower Valdarno, Tuscany) collection preserved in the Geo-Paleontological section of the Natural History Museum of Florence. This site is the type locality of the homonymous Faunal Unit of the Italian Biochronological scheme; it includes the latest Early Villafranchian Mammal Age faunas. The occurrence of an Eostyloceros species among this material however, is in disagreement with the age of the Montopoli local fauna, which has been correlated with the Gauss-Matuyama boundary and thus dated to about 2.6 Ma. The youngest remains of this genus come from sites of eastern Europe Early Pliocene in age (Ruscinian Mammal Age). The possibility that the antler is an external element to the Montopoli assemblage is therefore contemplated.

Late Pleistocene and Holocene deer remains from Ecuadorian sites have been analysed. Most of the material belongs to Odocoileus virginianus ustus, which is documented in latest Pleistocene deposits, in the Interandean Depression. Coastal sediments referred to the Holocene bear remains of Odocoileus salinae. O. v. ustus and O. salinae differ in size and in the morphology of the antlers and of the dentitions. In the present work, O. salinae is postulated to have derived from O. v. ustus during an and climatic phase in the latest Pleistocene. (C) 2002 tditions scientifiques et medicales Elsevier SAS. All rights reserved.

Cervids and a moschid coming from various sites in the Baccinello-Cinigiano basin (Grosseto, Tuscany, Central Italy) are described. These remains have been recovered from levels correlatable with the horizon where the faunal assemblage known as V3 has been found. In the sedimentary succession within the Baccinello-Cinigiano basin, five successive faunal associations have been recognised. These assemblages document phases of population spanning the Late Miocene-Early Pliocene. The oldest assemblage, termed V0, is correlated with the MN11 "zone" (early Turolian), V1 and V2 assemblages with the MN12 "zone" (late Turolian), and V3 with the MN13 "zone" (late Turolian). Sediments bearing V3 assemblage are unconformably overlain by Lower Pliocene deposits containing remains of mammals referred to the early Villafranchian MN16a "zone". The cervid material studied here is referred to three taxa, Paracervulus cf. australis, Procapreolus cf. loczyi, Cervidae indet., and to a new representative of the family Moschidae Tuscomeryx huerzeleri (nov. gen., nov. sp.). Because of the occurrence of genus Paracervulus, the assemblage can be referred to a phase transitional between the Turolian and Ruscinian Mammal Ages of the biochronological continental scale.

New human remains have been found during recent excavations conducted in the lower section of Visogliano dolina (Trieste, Italy). They are represented by teeth and a fragment of particularly robust mandible that for their morphological and morphometrical characters can be generically attributed to archaic Homo sapiens. The lithic industry is formed by flakes, carinated points, scrapers, choppers and chopping tools and is characteristic of the Italian Pebble Culture. Sediments, pollen and faunal remains indicate that this part of the deposit was formed during interglacial climatic conditions in the early, but not initial phase of Middle Pleistocene (isotopic stadium 13 or 11).

Several changes in the dental evolution of arvicolids can be documented by morphometric ratios of the lower first molar. Such data expressing the changes in enamel thickness, the relative length of the anteroconid complex and the height of the sinuids are used to compile a chronological scheme for several German and Italian arvicolid populations. With well-dated sites taken as fixed points, tentative curves can be constructed for the ratios in each lineage. Multiple curves, constructed for different lineages, provide a means of assessment for individual curves. Apparent conflicts between previous age estimates and those derived from our investigation are discussed.

The Authors have elaborated four range charts of mammalian (large and micro), molluscs and fresh-water and brackish ostracodes faunas, for the selected Plio-Pleistocene fossiliferous localities of the Italy. A new Mammal Age (Aurelian) correlatable to late Middle and Late Pleistocene has been defined. Inside this age two Faunal Units (Torre in Pietra and Vitinia) have been defined as characteristic for Early and Middle Aurelian, while no gisements have been chosen for the late Aurelian. Biochronological units are calibrated on magnetostratigraphic and isotopic scales and by radiometric datings.